this is a network that serves my communities in virginia. we remember the tragic accident in maryland in june. there have been a series of other incidents that have taken place over the last few months. three of them in virginia, one as recently as november 29. this string of incidents really heightens the need for our attention and focus. and showing what the chairman said, we havei am happy to see t the report includes a bill for funding and grants to address safety and maintenance issues. one of the things all this realize is the metro systems which i can remember that we prided as brand-new is getting up by an age. -- in age. it is 35 or 40 years old at this point. just like any house that gets that age, things start to break down at once. we're seeing that at least on the maintenance side with metro. it is showing its age. i echo the chairman's comments that we need to increase our focus on safety but we have to increase our focus on maintenance. i want to make two final points. i hope we look at this from the standpoint of how we get t

, live in pennsylvania, live in delaware, live in west virginia. that will certainly help us. this legislation also reduces our federal budget deficit. now are that's a challenge. -- now, that's a challenge. let me tell you why it's a challenge, mr. president. because there's two different issues here: reducing health care cost growth and reducing federal spending are two different issues. because to get everybody insured, which will help us bring down health care costs, we need to provide subsidies so people can afford their health insurance, provide businesses some help. as more and more people become insured, they can use our -- our tax advantages and pay less income taxes by paying using before-tax dollars rather than after-tax dollars. all that costs revenue to the federal treasury. so it's a challenge to bring this in without adding to the deficit, but we -- we knew we had to do that. and the congressional budget office, again, our objective score keeper, tells us that in the ten-year budget window, it will reduce the federal deficit by $132

there is an elementary school named after him in virginia. there are a couple more of named after him in texas pittsford in middle school in illinois. a street in germany where a second lieutenant colin powell reported for duty 50 years ago. [laughter] an artist has just completed a mural entitled "homage to colin powell" which depicts the night sky over jamaica when he was born hundreds of miles north in new york. [applause] it will be hung in the u.s. embassy in kingston to remind all visitors of the contributions of one of jamaica's most famous sons has made to global progress, prosperity and peace. it is also a great pleasure to welcome back mrs. powell and the family, to be part of this unveiling. i assume you have seen it, collin, or you would not be your. [laughter] did i mention how gutsy colin powell is? [laughter] able to accept the unknown and go forward. so today we unveil another work of art dedicated to this public servant and this great american. and i join all members of the foreign and civil service and the employees of the s

he was a child prodigy and went on to virginia university where he met martin luther king jr.. xdxdthat sparked a friendship tt lasted until king's assassination. he represented king. he was a washington bureau chief. he was a founding member of the congressional black caucus. toward the end of 2009, we're just recently celebrating the 25th anniversary of the free south africa movement. he was a prime mover in that. he is still someone that is traveling around the world. he just retired this year after 50 years as pastor of the church where i was christened and married and around the corner from where i live right now. my wife and i and our two kids live in the house that my father and his family grew up in. >> i read that you wrote that walter fauntroy met martin luther king when martin luther king was 22. martin luther king would today be 80 and your uncle is 76. what has your father done? >> my father has been retired. he was at the department of justice for years as a program analyst. he graduated central state college in may of 1957. he was born in 1935. he swam and played football

this is a network that serves my communities in virginia. we remember the tragic accident in maryland in june. there have been a series of other incidents that have taken place over the last few months. three of them in virginia, one as recently as november 29. this string of incidents really heightens the need for our attention and focus. and showing what the chairman said, i am happy to see that the report includes a bill for funding and grants to address safety and maintenance issues. one of the things all this realize is the metro systems which i can remember that we prided as brand-new is getting up by an age. -- in age. it is 35 or 40 years old at this point. just like any house that gets that age, things start to break down at once. we're seeing that at least on the maintenance side with metro. it is showing its age. i echo the chairman's comments that we need to increase our focus on safety but we have to increase our focus on maintenance. i want to make two final points. i hope we look at this from the standpoint of how we get trans

host: here is virginia. your favorite book of 2009. caller: polite to say merry christmas. -- i would like to say merry christmas. everytime a recall, to read something new. it is new to me. pettitte every time i read, i read something new. jesus was born in december. i was a former for many years. in wintertime, we did not put our sheep on the side of the hills to graze. it might be something you might be interested in studying. host: over the last 11 years, c- span has covered some 9000 book events. one is the "ph of reagathe age a gan." . portsmouth, virginia. caller: good morning. this is one of my books. it is "how to prosecute george w. bush for murder." you can see extend the policies in this book and the prosecution to obama out because he is complicitous in continuing this illegal war in the host: i think that might have come out in 2008 or 2007. what are your reading? caller: hello. merry christmas. my favorite nonfiction book has been and always will be the bible. host: thank you. jim on our independent line. caller: good mo

i know we have been working to get insurance in virginia. a number of states have mandated insurance coverage. it is a fox fall by fox will fight. in virginia, the average income is about $50,000. the average cost of services is about $85,000. the families have to do without. it's been done by state-by-state basis. how you can do some kind of insurance pre-emption would be an ideal way to go. this is an educational issue. it is not a health issue. if you see in two sons, it is a combination problem. >> the other factor that didn't get brought up is the financial stress and what it leads to. the divorce rates and we see this anecdotally. it is a minimum and around 80%. there is some estimate -- a speaker from california in the group of people she counseled, and her divorce rates were 90%. these are incredible numbers. in mississippi and our region, which two lost parents this year who could no longer handle the stressors of having a child in the program. one was a friend of ours. that is not unique to mississippi. that is things we foresee al

host: jeff in west virginia. caller: thank you. i do not normally approve of what the president has been doing with the medical plan and stuff, but i listened to him very closely last night. i have high praise for the gentleman. he is doing something right. they came over year and attacked us. he does not want to take over afghanistan. he wants to attack them on their soil where they are hiding. it keeps the danger away from us. that is why this thing is over there. i do not understand the vietnam veteran earlier. when they flew the planes into tauber's and those people died in pennsylvania -- everybody wanted the war. now, since we all live in this bubble of feeling safe, everybody is opposing this. we cannot keep apposing attacking our enemies. the takeover and they do things and they brownback over therrun. the president is right. he listened to his advisers. he took his time, and now he is doing something. people over there blockbustwants there. when we leave, they come back and threatened to kill. the same thing happened in vi

it's an honor to work with him who lives in quan could he, virginia. as -- quantico, virginia. the society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and the fighting done by fools. we don't have to worry about that distinction. he has enthusiasm that was clearly apparent during his year on capitol hill. he serves as a role model and superb example for society in the marines he lead. so today i thank captain shawn welsh for his leadership, his service to our nation and his performance this year as a congressional fellow on capitol hill. with that i yield back, mr. speaker. . the speaker pro tempore: the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for further consideration of h.r. 4173. will the gentlewoman from maryland kindly resume the chair. the chair: the house is in the committee of the whole on the state of the union for the further consideration of h.r. 4173, which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: a bill to provide for financial regulatory reform, to protect consumers and inves

jeffrey fiedler, great falls, virginia. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house the following communication. the clerk: the honorable, the speaker, house of representatives, madam, this is to formally notify you that on october 26, 2009, i sent a letter to charlie crist of florida that i will be resigning as united states representative from the 19th congressional district of florida at the end they have day on january 31, 2010. i have been honored to serb the united states house of representatives for 19 years. and i will be grateful to my constituents for giving me the opportunity to be their representative in washington. i will be part of the center for middle east peace where i will take on the critical challenge of facing the middle east. israel, palestinian and other leaders will be faced with decisions that will affect the entire world for decades. i am confident that it's time for me to dedicate myself fully to those issues. while i'm deeply saddened to leave this august body, i'm looking forward to

host: patty is joining us from alexandria, virginia. caller: good morning, and thank you for taking my call. this will sound corny, but i want to thank ms. hersman for her service to the american people. every time there is an accident, we see ntsb there, and i think it is something we should say thank you for. i understand that ntsb is up for reauthorization this year. d.c. special challenges? gues -- to use the special challenges? guest: patty, thank you for your comment. it is an honor to represent all the employees of the safety board. we are going to jamaica and san diego and looking at a collision between two ships. they worked very hard. thank you for that complementary i will pass it back to them. we have -- thank you for that compliment. i will pass it back to them. the senate has passed a bill for reauthorization, and the house is going to be considering that in the coming year. i don't foresee any specific challenges. içó think that our responsibiliy is to be responsive to the congress and the american public that we serve.

next virginia. ron apposeed the bill. why? caller: yes, i appose it because people like me will be going to jail. >> why is that? caller: well i can't afford to get it or pay a penalty and i've tried to get medicaid and my wife and me get too much so we'll be going to jail and that's not fair. host: this bill expanded the people that qualify for medicaid and subsidies for people to buy the mandated coverage for people who are up to 400 percent of the current fed c federal poverty l. caller: i done tried to get medicaid ma'am. host: but this would expand the people eligible. cal&er: yeah, but i'm not eligible. pay. host: good luck to you. russell apposeed the legislation. ohio. caller: yes, i think it's a big band-aid, pacifier. host: is why is that? caller: i'm is disabled. n i can only have x-rays done and can't have treatments but i cannot have a situation treated. just my teeth. i think it's a big pacifier where all our expenseables people need to remember that. we're all expenseable. host: your reaction to the healthcare v

lwfi have been the governor of e state of virginia. i understand those pressures, but if you're going to take a medicaid program and impose it on the state and basically give free medical care to people across the country, then you will have these kind of pressures and strains. we have to buy new approaches to the future of this country. host: how will your group differ from the american conservative union, the heritage foundation, the other republican groups out there, the other thing takes a hearing washington? guest: there is a tendency to want to -- to what a group like ours too often do something in a niche and begin to say that we are all different. my thinking are now is that we have got to be relevant to the discussion going on in this country. the people of the united states are calling out for help. they need different approaches and different ideas besides those left-wing approach as we are seeing in the congress today. they want positive offerings and positive solutions that will empower people more. if we are doing the sam

of virginia. he's also a so-called climate change skeptic. do you think climate change is a hoax? >> oh, heck no. human beings are definitely changing the climate. i think the warnings we're seeing is definitely at the low end of projection range. >> a projection range based on computer models. that, he and other skeptics say, is a problem. >> the problem is we have these things called computer models. that's all we have for the future. when we look at these computer models, one of the things we see is they tend to predict more warming than is occurring. >> that's true. some estimates do have the earth warming more than it currently is. it's an illustration of the difficulty deciphering the debate. most sides accuse each other of cherry picking data. models you see also are under estimating changing climate. remember this? even so, not the fear, says michaels. animals like the polar bear and humans will simply adapt. the scientists who are warning of huge changes within our lifetime, are those jus

he was in virginia and had lost the iowa caucuses. he came on the phone to tell his mother, and she said that is all right, i am sure you work hard and it will get better. then she said, teddy, do you know that nice blue sweater i gave a christmas time? he said it was a turtle neck with a small pocket on the front that had been made in france. >> have you wanted? >> i am not sure i have worn it. is there something special about it? i just got the bill for it and it is $220. if you have not worn it, send it back, because i have another one here that has not been warned. -- has not been worn. >> everybody has put rose kennedy on a pedestal, but what he does here, his dad was the one that he truly loved as well. i am sure everybody told him he had to talk about his father and what he did during world war ii. he says he was too young to comprehend his father's attitudes. in some region of my mind, he remains internally and solely my dad. he shows that the father was the one who kissed him when he came home from school and made all his hom

during a speech at the american democracy conference this week, virginia governor tim keenee, now the head of the campaign said the gop will be torn apart and powerless by the conservative wing. he singled out the tea party movement as the poison that will kill the republicans, including the party's chances in next year's midterm elections. >> there is one factor that i think is really important going into 2010. and that was the factor of the gop fighting, the tea party devouring the gop. the year started with the chairman of the rnc threatening to primary republicans who voted for the recovery act. and senator arlen specter said, guess what, i'm not going to wait. i'll just go ahead and become a democrat right now. the year ended in york congressional district 23 with the republican nominee, dede scozzafava, pretty well known member of the new york general assembly in a state that hadn't gone -- in a district that hadn't gone democratic since 7 187. the republicans put a million dollars a into her campaign but then ended up abandoning her in favor of a candidate whose candidacy had b

he was in virginia and had lost the iowa caucuses. he came on the phone to tell his mother, and she said that is all right, i am sure you work hard and it will get better. then she said, teddy, do you know that nice blue sweater i gave a christmas time? he said it was a turtle neck with a small pocket on the front that had been made in france. >> have you wanted? >> i am not sure i have worn it. is there something special about it? i just got the bill for it and it is $220. if you have not worn it, send it back, because i have another one here that has not been warned. -- has not been worn. >> everybody has put rose kennedy on a pedestal, but what he does here, his dad was the one that he truly loved as well. i am sure everybody told him he had to talk about his father and what he did during world war ii. he says he was too young to comprehend his father's attitudes. in some region of my mind, he remains internally and solely my dad. he shows that the father was the one who kissed him when he came home from school and made all his hom

in virginia beach, where i lived when i was writing, i would always have 15 books. i buy books, i underline. but i got my idea for each one. when you are writing for kids, people want to help you. >> you have a 10-volume set right now. how many were written before publishing? >> 9.5. the publishing of u.s. history, or any history, is a huge scandal in this country, because big money-making affairs happen for three publishers. when i got started, there were none brought up. there are three publishers who split billions between that must approve school books are not about educating kids. they are in business. they are about making money. these are school textbooks, k- 12. mifflin, pearson, and mcgraw- hill. if you get a contract to sell your books to los angeles, it is a huge deal, and you want to make sure that nothing in the book will offend anybody. they are like oatmeal. the standard -- and i want to make it clear that i'm talking about elementary and middle school, the standard textbooks are not written by name authors. so when you see an opera from a prestigious

should have been blown out in new jersey and virginia. if you have lost almost half of your republican vote, how can you go back and win one state in virginia, how can you win that in the next election but that is generally -- how can you win a state like new jersey even with all the things going on if you lost almost half your party and the answer is you can't. what you have is information that was telling you your tank was half full when in fact it wasn't. that is pretty common. it is very difficult to read through and understand in terms of what is real data and what is not. the better you get at it the more effective you are going to be. what is the device you use? i tend to use exit polls, actual accounts of party. i trend that overtime in terms of how people shift. you may ask questions of individuals in survey form, people you suspect may have been switching parties. you validate a lot of assumptions. accepting the data as was done in this case from virginia and new jersey ended up giving democrats a really false reading. losing ne

the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. goodlatte: madam speaker, i recognize myself for two minutes. first, to say that the gentleman from georgia may assert that this will benefit creditors, but i know a few creditors who extend home mortgage loans that favor this legislation. our country has fallen into a serious economic recession or a recession that's worsened by the foreclosure crisis. until we can address the rising number of foreclosures, it will be difficult for the economy to recover. unfortunately, this bankruptcy amendment, which i don't think belongs in this legislation to begin with, not only fails to solve the foreclosure crisis but also will make the crisis deeper, longer and wider. allowing bankruptcy courts to modify home mortgages will have adverse consequences for all while providing little real relief to distressed borrowers. bankruptcy cramdown will invariablely lead to higher interest rates and less generous borrowing terms for future borrowers. the gentleman may claim that it won't effect future borr

of yale, of the university of north carolina where he got his medical degree and the university of virginia where he got his undergraduate degree. he was former director of the nih national human genome research institute. you were home schooled up until the sixth grade. earlier this year, you founded in institute for religion and science. >> a foundation. >> is there a concern that your named the director of nih when you are an evangelical christian? >> there are concerns that perhaps is scientists who also happens to have talked openly about his religious faith but somehow not be as hard-nosed at making decisions about scientific projects as he should be. anybody who worked with me at the human genome project would have stood up and said that this is not an issue. no one can say that my own particular interest in spiritual matters ever gone the way of signs. i do not want to be distracted in any way from what the president has asked me to do. >> we have time for one more round of questions. >> can you say a little bit about the flap could you got about a that? why should the suns communit

he's from the university of yale and university of virginia where he got his undergraduate degree. he was former director of human genome research, for how long? >> 15 years. >> and you were home schooled until the fifth grade. and you founded an institute for religion and science. >> a foundation. >> is there concern of being the head of n.i.h.? >> there was some concern, i read with it in "new york times," the concern about a scientist that openly talked about his religious base and maybe not be as hard nosed in scientific projects as he should be. anyone who worked with me in those 15 years in the human genome project would say it was not an issue. and no one would say my particular interest of religion got in the way, and i promise it won't get in the way of n.i.h.. and as a compromise i resigned that foundation, and i don't want to be distracted of what the president has asked me to do. >> time for one more round of question. >> can you say about that flack of being evangelical. why do they care? what does that say about the head of science and religion? >> it was interesting

at the university of virginia we've been studying them for nearly 50 years. and what we have found is that kids from all over the world report very similar things at around the age of 2 or 3 they start coming out with these stories about how they lived before. some of them give a lot of details like james has. some give much fewer, but it's a very similar phenomenon. takes place in places, where there's belief in reincarnation but also in places and families who have never given it a second thought before in. >> some of these cases the kids have similar scars to the people that they reincarnated from sp. >> that's right. several hundred of them have had birthmarks or birth defects that match wounds. usually the fatal wound on the body of the previous person. and what we've done with some of them, ian stevenson who started the work, he was able to get autopsy reports from a lot of the people whose lives the kids seem to remember and match up how well the birthmark or birth defect matches with the wounds the previous person had. >> were you able to chart the ti

although none uld confirm what was agreed to, we virginia senat jay rockefeller descbed the feeling in the wte house meeting. >> there was the frustrati and angst. everybody has thin they want. th didn't all get what they want. that incdes me big time. >> reporter: even with senor lieberman's opsition seemingly out ofhe way, sticking points remain. onis what language should be in the bill about aborti coverage. the other is is ether the legiation should completely close the so-called donuhole : the medica prescription coverage gap. througut it all, democratic leaders have had to fos on keeping alof their members onoard. reblicans said today none of the chans to the legislation woulsway them back. mirity leader mitch mcconnell. >> what wenow for sure, no matter what kind of deals ar struckehind closed doors, what we know for sure that is bill will include a half trillion dollars imedicare cuts, $400 bilon in new taxes, and higheinsurance premiums f everyone else. th isn't going to change. that is the prlem that the erican people are fully aware of e polls are overelming. every single po

he was in virginia and had lost the iowa caucuses. he came on the phone to tell his mother, and she said that is all right, i am sure you work hard and it will get better. then she said, teddy, do you know that nice blue sweater i gave a christmas time? he said it was a turtle neck with a small pocket on the front that had been made in france. >> have you wanted? >> i am not sure i have worn it. is there something special about it? i just got the bill for it and it is $220. if you have not worn it, send it back, because i have another one here that has not been warned. -- has not been worn. >> everybody has put rose kennedy on a pedestal, but what he does here, his dad was the one that he truly loved as well. i am sure everybody told him he had to talk about his father and what he did during world war ii. he says he was too young to comprehend his father's attitudes. in some region of my mind, he remains internally and solely my dad. he shows that the father was the one who kissed him when he came home from school and made all his hom

i know that west virginia struggles with the -- west virginia's struggles with the health care system are not unique in america but they are unique to me because i represent them, and they are what drive notice work so hard -- drive me to work so hard to make things better. that never changes. so i talk about the board fami family. the boards are two dedicated schoolteachers with health insurance through their employ employer, whose son samuel had leukemia and needed treatment well beyond the onerous annual insurance limits imposed upon him without his knowledge and, therefore, his health insurance stopped producing any care for him at all. at eight years old, what was he to know? samuel's parents were desperate and they feared for the worst. when he hit his million-dollar cap on annual insurance, my office helped his parents to find some more resources, but those ran out too so the boards were left with two gut-wrenching suggestions. consider getting a divorce so that samuel would qualify for medicaid. or stop taking their other two children and giving them health care so that they c

and with that, i would yield to the gentleman from virginia. . mr. scott: thank you. i want to thank the gentlelady from wisconsin for her hard work. she's indicated, benefited from the trio program so she knows firsthand as i do as a counselor in college, i spent three years as a counselor in upward bound programs, noticing the profound change from the beginning of the program to the end of the program. we need to make sure these opportunities and this guidance is made -- this guidance is made available to all students to make sure they can get into college and then to support services once they get there so they can graduate. these are important programs and i thank the gentlelady for organizing this special order and i thank the gentlelady from texas for joining us. ms. moore: thank you so much. ms. jackson lee: if i may. ms. moore: the gentlelady may use the rest of our time. ms. jackson lee: a word of appreciation for you and a picture is worth a thousand words. these tall bars, if they can be seen, shows what happens to upward bound participants, much higher tha

i want to commend the presiding officer, the senator from virginia, senator warner. he joined with a group of freshmen democrats, and they introduced cost con canement amendments to this -- cost con canement amendments to this bill, her rarlded by -- heralded by the businesses and manufacturing groups in america. they rolled up their sleeves and they went to work and they made an amendment. you cannot say the same, i'm afraid, for the other saoeufplt their amendments have not been as constructive as the amendment i why you have just described. they tried to stop this bill rather than improve this bill. senator warner and tpr* virginia and his colleagues have taken a more constructive and positive approach. bringing down costs of health insurance and making it affordable is job one for this health care reform. but it does something else. this bill extends the coverage of health insurance in america. currently there are 50 million americans who don't have health insurance. they are people who have lost their jobs. they are folks who work for small businesses and can't

part of a university of virginia forum marking 20 years since the fall of the berlin wall. this portion is an hour and 45 minutes. >> panel three of when walls came down. berlin, 9/11, and u.s. strategy in uncertain times. this is a 2009 william and carol stevenson conference here at the miller center at the university of virginia. i am not catteds lean mack namarea as you may have guessed. i am john owen, on the faculty of the department of politics here at u.v.a. i'm very glad to be what you know, the whip cracker here on panel three to make sure every, everything moves along briskly and we keep within our time limits. let's get right to it if we could. i do want to thank ann for all that she has done to make this happening. and she seems to have left the room. thank you, ann, very much. the format will be as in other panels, after i am done in about 30 seconds we'll take our panelists in order. let me introduce them to you briefly. first is mary, who is professor of international relations at the university of southern california's school of international relations. prof

the one who has popped up recently has been jim web from virginia simply because he's been vote ing with the republicans on a lot of these amendments. there's some concern that maybe he's not as strong as we thought he could be. he could be the 60th vote. >> lehrer: when the president said, as we had in a clip after the meeting with the democrats, he said there are still differences. what's he talking about? >> well, the biggest difference i think by far has to do with abortion language and how tough the restrictions should be on abortion. senator ben nelson of nebraska who we've been talking about, that is a very big issue for him. with the removal of this public option, it may be the big iruwe for him. it's unclear how that will be resolved. if they can solve that, they'll really be pretty much there. there are other issues that have to do with how this is all paid for. there are controversial taxes and levys that would be involved. the two big issues were the public option and abortion. they've now taken the public option off the table in the senate but the question remains how they'r

next virginia. ron apposeed the bill. why? caller: yes, i appose it because people like me will be going to jail. >> why is that? caller: well i can't afford to get it or pay a penalty and i've tried to get medicaid and my wife and me get too much so we'll be going to jail and that's not fair. host: this bill expanded the people that qualify for medicaid and subsidies for people to buy the mandated coverage for people who are up to 400 percent of the current fed c federal poverty l. caller: i done tried to get medicaid ma'am. host: but this would expand the people eligible. cal&er: yeah, but i'm not eligible. pay. host: good luck to you. russell apposeed the legislation. ohio. caller: yes, i think it's a big band-aid, pacifier. host: is why is that? caller: i'm is disabled. n i can only have x-rays done and can't have treatments but i cannot have a situation treated. just my teeth. i think it's a big pacifier where all our expenseables people need to remember that. we're all expenseable. host: your reaction to the healthcare v

is it bob mcdonald in virginia? is it the new jersey race or is it sarah palin? i mean, there's a process that has to be gone through here to where republicans decide and republican voters decide what is the way back. and i don't know that that's been decided yet. >> let me respond to that. i know clearly for myself, i do very much believe it is in the mode of bob mcdonald. and i don't think it's necessarily so clear-cut that we could be one of the other. because if you look at bob mcdonald and what he stood for and his record in our general assembly, he was extraordinarily conservative in all issues. it wasn't that he shied away from any of the conservative principles he briefed in, but he focused those principles of free markets, of limited government, lower taxes, faith in god he focused those on the kitchen table issues that were plaguing voters and began to represent a leader that could actually deliver some results and get people back to work. >> that brought up a problem which, again, i think is a trends not just in this country, that there is now a kind o

i want to commend the presiding officer of the senator from virginia, senator warner. he joined a group of freshmen democrats and the introduced cost-containment amendments to this bill which was part of the manager's amendment would have been heralded by the major business and manufacturing groups of america. a thoughtful amendment which addresses the core issue here, how to bring down health care costs. they will up their sleeves and went to work and made an amendment. you cannot see the same i'm afraid for the other side of the aisle. their amendments have not been as constructive as the amendment i just described. they've tried to stop this bill rather than improve this bill and senator warner of virginia and his freshman colleagues have taken a more constructive and positive approach. so bringing down costs of health insurance and making it more affordable is a job number one for this health care reform. this bill extends the coverage of health insurance in america. currently there are 50 million americans who don't have health insurance. they are people who've lo

kkk byrd that we know from west virginia and his thought process. if we get to be one, a few mr.tapscott listen to mr. solomon a little more and get away from the no and try to get a little more to the yes, . can't mr. solomon, a want to applaud you for your intelligence and intentions. host: we will stop you there to let the harvard debate continue. guest: this was your brother, right? if guest: not literally, anyway. guest: where do i start? i commend the caller for his passion. it is too bad we don't have more for american politics today. i would simply say that the caller obviously has a the conventional wisdom of american academia today which is that somehow these evil europeans came to america and took over and murdered and killed for 300 years. that is a total misreading of american, western history. people who have that perspective are not generally open to contrary opinions. i commend the gentleman for his passion. host: coming from james, i thought that the "haters" took sunday off. caller: good morning. only to quickly comment on health c

he referred to the senator from west virginia by name, senator byrd. elderly, frail, but shows up here to vote. dragging hem out of bed at 1:00 a.m. in the morning to come here. he said why don't we do it at 9:00 a.m.? well, i thought that was a pretty good idea, so when i got here to the floor here an hour ago, a couple hours ago, i asked unanimous consent at that time that we have the vote at 9:00 a.m. but that the hours from 1:00 until 9:00 be counted for purposes of the 30 hours. the republicans objected. so much for their concern for the senator from west virginia. so, mr. president, we're on the cusp. we're going to expand small business credits. we're going to reduce administrative costs. we're requiring insurance companies to spend 80% to 85% of their income on health care, on health care. not fancy corporate offices, not high, expensive c.e.o. salaries of millions of dollars a year, not fancy jets, but 80% to 85% must be spent on health care and paying medical claims. as senator durbin said, we make major investments in community health center

ramona, a republican in virginia. caller: good morning, and merry christmas. this will shock a lot of people, but i wish all lot of peoplthatn and senator liebeanr president. i think that it would be balanced, exciting. host: who was the other one along with senator lieberman? caller: cerebellum. i know, i know what you're thinking. -- that is sarah pailin. host: how much support do you think you would get? caller: from the thinking people it would get a lot of support because senator lieberman is a thinker. he does switch because that is what we need. people keep saying that we need three parties. he is an independent. host: but would he pass the republican, the litmus test for candidates? do you think he would pass with a lot of conservative republicans? caller: the thinking republicans, is all that i can say. i don't know how the real conservatives would feel, and i don't know how people who are anti-jewish would feel, but i still think that he would be a great president or vice- president. host: thanks for the idea. a couple of other headlines looking to c

host: huntington, west virginia, ravi, republican line. caller: i saw the speech that the president made this morning accepting the nobel peace prize. it was a very, very good speech. i am a republican, but words, you know, it is just words. that is all it is. come back to this country and work on unemployment. i was thinking, these officials in d.c., they are elected officials. the american public with them in. these people that are laidÑi of, now let's go to the senate and congress and start playing some of those people off. thank you, and have a good day. host: some headlines about health care and the senate package. and another headline in "usa today." ÑiÑinext is a phone call from tallahassee. this is diane, independent line. caller: this is in reference to the nobel peace prize. i felt that he was in good company. i do not think he had been put it -- had been put up for it to weeks into his presidency, so he had not done anything. long story short, he is in good company. çóarafat, inventor of ) Ñ suicie bomber, al gore, a liar.

host: next up is connie the in omar, west virginia. go i a head. caller: hello. host: hello. caller: hello. host: connie, what are your thoughts about what the president's domestic and/or foreign policies should be in 2010? caller: sir, i am really upset about these -- the congress, the way they are handling this. host: the way they are handling what? caller: all of the health insurances and think, like that and their doctors. an i sympathy we need to be free. i think people -- i think what's happening is people don't even realize it. but it's older people and people who have lived under communist rule and things. there's a communist rule. that's what i think. host: connie, how do you feel like your freedoms have been lost over the last couple of years? why do you feel like that? caller: well, because they are making all the decisions. the people are not making the decisions. we're having to thereon people that are listening to someone that is trying to say, oh, you have to take this or you're going to be fine, you're going to go to jail. host: who are they and what are they

host: the next phone call comes from the democrats line in newport news, virginia. caller: i am very nervous. miss barbara lee i respect the cbc and all the stand for, being a young black male myself. my call is not on whether obama will make good economic decisions. i'm not the most politically astute. i am not very politically educated like some prior callers, but as a young black male and you being someone who represents the young black caucus i want to look at how obama sees a young black males and sees himself as a young black man and how that relates to how you might come up with problems that affect young black males. keeping us off the street. when i look at barack obama's background as a young black male it does not really seem to fit what the average young black male that i have been around has been around. him being raised in kansas, hawaii, going to harvard. young black males often strive for those things but never seem to get there. barack obama has. been that he does have a white mother and that he is only half black, and i don't mean to offend the pre

he preached in imam j oorhar malik's mosque in virginia. >> young, handsome, has the benefit of english without an accent and who also is proficient in the arabic language. in fact, he is technically an arab. what better mix? >> he doesn't agree with alwaki's extreme views and denounces the killings at ft. hood. it was here at malik's mosque he met two of the 9/11 bombers. the 9/11 commission reports that before this he was on the fbi's radar. according to the commission, by the time we sought to interview him in 2003 he had left the united states. but what's on everybody's mind now is what influence alwaki may have had on major hasan in the e-mails they exchanged months before the ft. hood shootings. >> so he told him, where are you heading? >> it is evident the money is pouring in and the message is getting out. so where is the money going and what will alwaki's followers do with the message? some of those followers as you heard inspired to act, plots foiled on both sides of the atlantic, but this one would have been big. >> he knew it would cause chaos, damage, destruction and he tim

in the blue room is the official white house christmas tree, and 18 foot tall douglas fir from west virginia decorated with hundreds of ornaments designed by people and children all across the country, each one a reminder of the traditions we cherish as americans and the blessings we are thankful for this holiday season. >> that is right. we have parents without a job who have struggled to put things on the christmas tree, families and neighbors who have seen homes for clothes, and folks wondering what the new year will bring. but there is still so much to celebrate this christmas. a message of peace and brotherhood continuing to inspire more than two dozen years after jesus' birth, the love of family and friends. the bonds of communities. men and women who are far from home, risking their lives to protect hours. soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and coast guard men, i have no greater honor than serving as your commander in chief. i have been altered by your eagerness to serve at the naval academy at west point. i have been energized by your dedication. we have been moved by your determina

and northward in virginia. he rose quickly to become the republican whip in november of 2008 which is the second ranking leadership position in the house minority leadership structure. mr. cantor is a member of the house ways and means committee, and he has taken a keen interest in everything in america's economic competitiveness. a lot you'll see demonstrated today. he believes the government overtaxes investment and savings and he has championeded in the races on capital gains and dividends. he wants lower rates in other parts of the world. the first bill was actually to provide a tax credit of $1,000 per child for parents of school-aged children. he has been involved in just about every major congressional effort since he has been in congress designed to help spur economic growth. he is the chairman of the house republican economic solutions group which is a group of over two dozen house republicans who are focused on precisely these issues. during the debate on the first stimulus bill, they developed loweri

for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia, mr. wolf from virginia. >> i wish to claim mr. wolf's time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. poe: thank you, mr. speaker. the navy seels are the united states navy's elite commandows and last week we learned that they have captured one of the most wanted terrorists in all of iraq. abed was behind the murder and mutilation of former blackwater u.s.a. security guards in fallujah in the year 2004. this ring leader of this ambush planned the murder of these four americans in fallujah. and these four blackwater security guards, what they were doing was transporting supplies from one place to another. so he had planned an ambush against these individuals. they are ambushed, they are murdered, the bodies of these four murdered americans were then dragged through the streets, burned and hung from a bridge in fallujah. mr. speaker, i've been to that very bridge in the year 2005 and you still have an eerie feeling knowing that four americans were hung there in public view. u.s. military, by the way,

wolf, virginia. ms. lee, california. mr. mcgovern: madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from massachusetts rise? mr. mcgovern: i ask unanimous consent to claim the time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. mcgovern: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcgovern: thank you, madam speaker. first, i want to commend president obama for thinking long and hard about the course he believes the united states should take in afghanistan. that kind of deliberation is a welcome change from the previous administration. i also want to commend him for making it crystal clear that the united states of america condemns torture. unfortunately, on the issue of troop levels in afghanistan i believe the president has reached the wrong conclusion. sending 30,000 more u.s. troops to afghanistan will make it 30,000 times harder to extraindicate ourselves from this mess. if our fight is truly with al qaeda, then we're in t

and we've even been down to my home state of leesburg virginia and across the commonwealth. where are the virginians here? [cheers and applause] jeffersonville indiana, right there. you bet. we've been to evansville myself. across this country, the crowds were big and the passion is intense and we've learned something that we already knew, folks. when americans face a challenge, we stand up and fight for our freedom. and that is exactly what you're doing. [cheers and applause] that's exactly what you're doing today and every day across this country. out on the road at the defense i hear one question more than any other question and it's this: can one person really make a difference? you've heard that, right? [cheers and applause] all the grassroots activism and tea parties and town hall meetings, does that really make a difference? [cheers and applause] you better believe it does. today you were walking this capital, and our friends across the country are rocking the united states of america, and next year or have a feeling we are going to rock this whole country. what do yo

byrd from west virginia. since he arrived in 1959, the senior senator has cast more than 18,500 votes. this week, amid a historic blizzard, the 92-year-old senator arrived in the wee hours after midnight, in the frigid minutes just after dawn. here is this quote from senator chris dodd, who sat next to him in the chamber and took note of the senator's cheery attitude this week. "he looks a lot better, he seems a lot better than a few weeks ago." he added that he is clearly aware of who his colleagues are, their families, and their legislative interests. your reaction? guest: there had been a lot of questions, political reporters like myself, we like to sometimes imagine or speculate about all the things that could go wrong. senator byrd has had some health problems. he is 92 years old and has had some health problems in recent months, in and out of the hospital. there was some question about whether he will, given the snow and the late hours, early hours, be able to make it in. but sitting in the chamber duri